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The finding, announced Monday by Superior Court Justice Jane Ferguson, means Tyler Perkins won't be prosecuted for possession of child pornography. The ruling excludes evidence gathered by Durham police after Mr. Perkins, 32, was found using a laptop in his car in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2010.

"I've taken the position there is a Charter breach and he's acquitted," Justice Ferguson said. The judge delivered a brief oral decision Monday and said she would release written reasons for the ruling later.

Mr. Perkins's lawyer, Jennifer Penman, had argued that police committed several breaches of his Charter rights when they detained and arrested him, and when they obtained a search warrant to examine the contents of his laptop computer. Although Mr. Perkins was arrested on the relatively minor charge of telecommunications theft, the computer search revealed evidence of the much more grave offence of child pornography, court heard.

Durham police responding to a report of a suspicious person found Mr. Perkins operating a laptop computer in the driver's seat of an idling car, court heard. Officers testified that a background check revealed Mr. Perkins had been previously arrested on charges of sexual assault, voyeurism and child porn.

Police seized the computer and, after Mr. Perkins admitted he'd been tapping into unsecured WiFi, arrested him for telecommunications theft. Cops obtained a search warrant and as an officer conducted a preliminary scan of the computer hard drive an image of a naked child spontaneously opened up, court heard. Police obtained another warrant to search for child porn.

Ms. Penman argued that police, aware of Mr. Perkins's past record, immediately suspected he had been downloading child porn and were determined to prove as much. She said the search warrant obtained to search for evidence of telecommunications theft was really the launch of a fishing expedition for porn.

Prosecutor Tammy D'Eri argued the search warrant was a logical aspect of the telecommunications theft investigation, and that police had proceeded properly after the initial discovery of child pornography.

But on Monday Justice Ferguson ruled that police committed a number of Charter breaches during the investigation.

"It's clear from the officers' evidence ... that they were interested in finding child pornography," she said.

The exclusion of the computer evidence meant the Crown had no case against Mr. Perkins.

Although Monday's ruling went in Mr. Perkins's favour, he remains in custody. Court records indicate he faces a charge of sexual assault.

Jeff Mitchell is the justice reporter for Metroland Media Group in Durham Region, Ontario.